Baselworld 2012 is already in full swing, and luxury watch manufacturers are showcasing their best and newest designs at the annual luxury watch and fine jewelry show. Louis Vuitton is not one to be left behind. Ever since the French fashion house announced its arrival on the luxury watch scene, the brand has been adding feathers to its cap. Currently, the luxury brand is busy showing off its latest nautical range of timepieces. But the venue is not the Basel Fairground, which is where Baselworld 2012 is being held. Instead, Louis Vuitton has taken its nautical range of watches to the waters off Basel. The venue, in this case, is a boat anchored on the river Rhine.
The venue hints not only at the nautical luxury watches themselves, but also at Louis Vuitton’s association with the America’s Cup, one of the biggest sailing events of the year. Louis Vuitton is not only title sponsor at the event but also the official timekeeper. The responsibility is huge and Louis Vuitton has put a lot of effort into creating highly accurate timing devices and technology to for timing the regarttas. However, it is not merely about difficult-to-understand technology; Louis Vuitton is offering a special luxury watch collection for America’s Cup as well.
The Luxury Watches
Louis Vuitton entered the timekeeping business fairly recently. Although the luxury brand initially launched luxury watches as a continuation of its fashion line, it soon progressed into the work of building more complicated timepieces. One of the highlights in this area for Louis Vuitton was its acquisition of complication specialist La Fabrique du Temps in 2011. Since then, the company has come up with such watches as the Tambour Tourbillon and the Tambour Minute Repeater. Another popular watch from the Louis Vuitton workshops is the GMT Minute Repeater – a cool watch that chimes the hour on the dial as well as the hour at the wearer’s home country. There is also the Tambour Spin Time. Louis Vuitton even created the Tambour Spin Time Regatta, to help participants in the regatta to keep track of the minutes before the start of the race.
Louis Vuitton has also created the Tambour Regatta America’s Cup Automatic. This special edition steel chronograph has a rubber casing and an automatic LV 171 Dubois Dépraz caliber. The regatta function and countdown are visible on the dial. Only 720 numbered pieces of this watch will be available. Another offering is the America’s Cup Regatta Quartz. This entirely configurable red and black chronograph is another special edition limited to 1851 pieces. Why 1851? Because the America’s Cup regatta began that year.
While you are at it, check out the Tambour Diving Series, which also offers two styles for women – the Tambour Ceramique and the Tambour Bijou Secret.
Louis Vuitton For America’s Cup
Louis Vuitton has been part of the America’s Cup story for 35 years now. There was a brief interruption in this long-standing association a few years ago due to a court dispute, but Louis Vuitton has since returned to the America’s Cup fold. The 34th America’s Cup is to be held in 2013, between the months of July and September. The finals will take place between 7-22 September 2013. Louis Vuitton will be there, keeping the time.
Via: WorldTempus
